Little Comets aiming to be first band ever to play a gig around Great North Run

Vicki Newman

Indie rockers Little Comets have set themselves a challenge of becoming the first band to play a gig around the Great North Run.

Jarrow brothers Rob and Mickey Coles and Washington’s Matt Hall are set to sing their way around the 13.1-mile course from Newcastle to South Shields on Sunday, September 1.

If they make it, they’ll set a world record for a band running a half marathon while singing and playing guitars.

The band has earned a reputation for putting on gigs in unusual places, such as lecture halls, trams and metros, but this will be their strangest concert yet.

They’re taking on the mammoth challenge to raise awareness of organ donation and funds for charity Cardiomyopathy UK.

In 2013, Rob, Mickey and Matt met fan Jim Lynskey, who had been unable to come to a gig due to a cardiac arrest.

After an email from Jim’s brother about his absence the band popped round to Jim’s for a cup of tea and over the years have kept in touch with a young man who is now a firm friend.

Jim has lived with dilated cardiomyopathy, a condition in which the heart becomes enlarged and cannot pump blood efficiently, since being seven-days-old, having had cardiac arrests at eight and 17 and numerous surgeries and procedures.

He is currently on the transplant list for a new heart but frustratingly, despite waiting for over a year, has not yet been called for a transplant.

A spokesman for the band said: “There are currently over 10,000 people waiting for an organ in the UK – 250 for a heart – from every gamete of society, young and old.

“As it is organ donation awareness week from September 5 to 11, the band and Jim thought undertaking this monumental Great North Gig was a perfect opportunity to encourage people to sign the organ donor register, via following @save9lives on Twitter or by going to www.organdonation.nhs.uk”